The Adversary by Julian May - Pliocene Exiles 04

Author:Julian May - Pliocene Exiles 04
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-03-06T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

"I beseech you to reconsider," Old Man Kawai said.

He stood on the stoop of Madame Guderian's cottage, holding a tawny little cat in his arms. Three kittens tumbled groggily about his feet. Occasionally one would essay a tentative growl at the two riders on chalikos who loomed in the grey mist of the dooryard.

"You are the one who should remember, Tadanori-san," said Chief Burke. "Any day now, the Firvulag are likely to attack Hidden Springs-no matter what Fitharn Pegleg says. He's friendly, but he's only a single individual. And Fort Rusty was the straw that broke the hippy's back. We simply can't trust the Little People any longer. Sharn and Ayfa have lied too many times."

"It was the Iron Villages that the Firvulag King and Queen wanted to destroy," the elderly Japanese said. "Because they constituted a threat. One that is now removed."

"Eighty-three died at Rusty," Denny Johnson said. "Couple hundred more slaughtered in dribs and drabs over the months we've been slowly forced out of the other iron settlements on the Moselle-and at least that many Wounded or missing. This neck of the woods is just too close to the hostiles, Old Man.

Ol' Sharn's been saying 'Hop frog' to us for a long time now.

We just finally clevered up and decided to jump! And you will too, 'less you're ready to die. Nobody's asking you to go on the Roniah raid. You can join the caravan heading for Nionel.

Lowlives are welcome there, bless the Howler's ugly hearts."

"I cannot go," Kawai said, stroking the cat. "I understand why the rest of you wish to leave this place, but I must stay."

Burke leaned down from the saddle, proffering a Husqvarna stun-gun. "At least take this for self-defence."

Kawai shook his head. "You will need every weapon for the infiltration of Roniah. Besides, if the Firvulag know that I am defenceless, why should they molest me-a half-blind octogenarian with a cottage full of cats? No, I will stay and be a caretaker for this good home of ours that sheltered us for so many years.

I will tend the gardens, and keep the pathways free of grass, and see to the watermill, and secure the buildings against the encroachment of vermin. Some of the liberated livestock also linger-goats and a few chickens, and the big gander that Peppino could not entice into a pannier. I will feed them. And, who knows? Perhaps some day, when the troubles have resolved themselves, human beings may wish to return to Hidden Springs."

"I'd stay, God knows," Denny Johnson said, "if I thought we'd be left in peace. But you know what Fitharn said."

Kawai frowned. "You believe the tale of a coming Nightfall War?"

"Old Man, I don't know what to believe any more. But one thing's for damn sure: I didn't know when I was well off in the Milieu singing for my supper at Covent Garden. They let me go back through that time-gate, I don't care if I have to play Iago in whiteface."

Kawai smothered a giggle in the cat's fur.

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